Professor College of Pharmacy, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea
Background: Diabetic cataract is an opacity of the lens caused by diabetes. Diabetic cataract is a common complication in diabetic patients and can lead to blindness in severe cases.
Objectives: Although the number of diabetic patients is increasing, research on the risk factors of diabetic cataract is insufficient. The aim of this study is to find factors associated with diabetic cataract using Korean population-based data.
Methods: The database used in this study is from the Korean National Health Insurance Service-Senior cohort. In this nested case-control study design, the case group was defined by diabetes patients with diabetic cataract, and the control group was defined by diabetic patients without diabetic cataract. Diabetes patient was defined by one or more inpatient diagnosis or two or more outpatient diagnosis in a year. Diabetic cataract was defined by one or more inpatient diagnosis or one or more cataract surgery or two or more outpatient diagnosis. The controls were selected at a ratio of 1:1 by risk set sampling using age, sex, and diabetes duration. Statistical methods used were t-test, chi-square test, and logistic regression.
Results: The case group and the control group each included 19,761 patients in this study. Dyslipidemia (aOR=1.15 CI=1.107-1.199), retinopathy(aOR=1.98 CI=1.892-2.075), asthma(aOR=1.16 CI=1.115-1.210), ischaemic heart disease (aOR=1.05 CI=1.016-1.101), hepatitis virus infection(aOR=1.09 CI=1.028-1.168), a-glucosidase inhibitor (aOR=1.08 CI=1.027-1.149), DPP4 inhibitors (aOR=1.20 CI=1.086-1.340), insulin (aOR=1.07 CI=1.014-1.131), thiazolidinediones (aOR=1.28 CI=1.164-1.409) were slight increase in the risk of diabetic cataract than control group.
Conclusions: In this study, retinopathy, asthma, ischaemic heart disease, hepatitis virus infection, and diabetes medication were slight increase in the risk of diabetic cataract.
